The prevailing view that eukaryotic cells are restrained from intercellular exchange of genetic information has been challenged by recent reports on nanotubes, exosomes, apoptotic bodies, and nucleic acid-binding peptides that provide novel pathways for cell-cell communication, with implications in health and disease.

The kallikrein, prostate-specific antigen (PSA), is one of the world's most frequently used disease biomarkers. After almost two decades of research and clinical experience, the diagnostic and monitoring limitations of PSA are beginning to be understood. Most physicians are aware of PSA's low specificity for cancer among older men with benign prostatic conditions; fewer are aware of recent data, w

BACKGROUND: In children, a gastrostomy button was placed as the initial feeding tube, using laparoscopy and a modified surgical technique. The aim of this study was to test the hypothesis that a new surgical procedure developed at our institution would result in fewer postoperative complications. PATIENTS AND METHODS: Sixty-two consecutive children with nutritional problems underwent a video-assis

Background: The use of drugs for migraine during pregnancy may have adverse effects on delivery outcome, and warnings exist for such drugs regarding use during pregnancy. Most information in the literature concerns triptans. Objective: The aim of the study was to describe the delivery outcome when a woman had used drugs for migraine during pregnancy. Study Design: A register study where exposure f

We will in the present paper derive a general three-dimensional formalism for electromagnetic scattering from buried inhomogeneities. We will exploit the transition matrix formalism, originally given by Waterman, to electromagnetic scattering in the presence of an infinite surface and a buried bounded inhomogeneity. The analysis explicitly assumes that the sources are located above the ground, but

OBJECTIVES: In previous trials, patients with type 2 diabetes using calcium channel blockers (CCB) have suffered a less favourable outcome when compared with patients on other treatments. The present study was designed to compare mortality in type 2 diabetes patients using either CCB or beta blockers (BB) as antihypertensive agents. DESIGN: Retrospective observational study. Patients were followed

Microglia are the immune cells of the central nervous system (CNS). They patrol the brain environment with their ramifications and they respond quickly in the presence of pathogens and brain damages. Others and we have recently reported the existence of two different types of microglia, the resident and the newly differentiated microglia that are derived from the bone marrow stem cells. Of great i

The muscles of the pharynx are controlled by networks of neurons under the control of specific regions in the brain stem, which have been fairly well studied. However, the transmission between these neurons and the pharyngeal muscles, at the motor end plates, is less well understood. Therefore, an in vitro model for the study of neuromuscular transmission in the pharyngeal muscle of the mouse was

PURPOSE: To investigate how life situation by persons with advanced colorectal cancer and their partners is affected by living with the disease and its treatment. METHOD: Separate, individual interviews were made with persons with advanced colorectal cancer (n = 12) and their partners (n = 9) about how their daily lives were affected by the disease and its treatment. The verbatim transcripts were

PURPOSE OF REVIEW: The nuclear factor of activated T-cells (NFAT) proteins are a family of Ca/calcineurin-dependent transcription factors that were first characterized in T-lymphocytes as inducers of cytokine gene expression. Since then, NFAT proteins have been shown to play varied roles outside of the immune system, including in the cardiovascular system. Cells in the vessel wall display a divers

BACKGROUND: Analysis of high-frequency QRS amplitudes (HF-QRS) may provide an additional diagnostic tool in patients with heart disease, but the basic properties of these waveforms have not been sufficiently investigated. This study describes the spatial, individual, and temporal variation at rest of HF-QRS recorded with the 12 standard electrocardiographic leads in patients with ischemic heart di

Ten patients, who had been treated according to the Malmo model for immune tolerance induction (ITI), were analysed regarding treatment with clotting factors and chemotherapy during the time period between inhibitor detection and ITI. Of the patients who were successfully rendered tolerant (n=6) all but one had received treatment with FVIII, either alone (n=1), or combined with cyclophosphamide (n

Educational software in the form of games or so called “computer assisted intervention” for young children has become increasingly common receiving a growing interest and support. Currently there are, for instance, more than 1,000 iPad apps tagged for preschool. Thus, it has become increasingly important to empirically investigate whether these kinds of software actually provide educational benefi

Although it is well established that the pancreatic islets are innervated by autonomic nerves, the detailed islet innervation pattern is still unclear. In this issue of Diabetologia (DOI: 10.1007/s00125-012-2699-6 ) novel details of the islet neuroanatomy and its plasticity in experimental diabetes are described. By using a 3-dimensional (3-D) imaging technique, it has been shown that, in islets f

BACKGROUND: Alteration in respiratory activity and mitochondrial DNA (mtDNA) transcription seems to be an important feature of cancer cells. Leukotriene D(4) (LTD(4)) is a proinflammatory mediator implicated in the pathology of chronic inflammation and cancer. We have shown earlier that LTD(4) causes translocation of beta-catenin both to the mitochondria, in which it associates with the survival p

Breast cancer is a very heterogeneous disease and some patients are cured by the surgical removal of the primary tumour whilst other patients suffer from metastasis and spreading of the disease, despite adjuvant therapy. A number of prognostic and treatment predictive factors have been identified such as tumour size, oestrogen (ER) and progesterone (PgR) receptor status, human epidermal growth fac

Satisfaction with the outcome of treatment is a widely used outcome measure but information about the determinants of patient satisfaction after surgery for central spinal stenosis (CSS) are lacking. The aim of the study was to analyze determinants of patient satisfaction 1 year after surgery for CSS without degenerative spondylolisthesis (DS).

In adults, the size of the left atria (LA) has important prognostic information. In obese adults, adolescents and children enlargement of LA have been observed. This has not been investigated on a population-based level in young children. We therefore assessed if total body fat mass (TBF), abdominal fat, and body fat distribution were related to LA diameter. Cross-sectional study of 244 children (